History of Biofeedback

The accuracy and reliability of the INDIGO Biofeedback System is based on decades of research conducted in the fields of bio-energetic and bio-response medicine.

It incorporates some of the best elements of electro-medicine, vibrational medicine, and energetic medicine. Electro medicine, or the use of energetic modalities to treat physical ailments, is considered one of the oldest and most documented sciences known.The subtler and more profound applications of the concept of the body electric are just being discovered now; but the long history of great minds and thinkers contributing to this body of knowledge is impressive.Biofeedback TimelineBelow is a brief, and very elementary review of some of the pivotal discoveries and influences in the field. These are just a few of the pioneers who used electrical impulses to learn more about the condition of the body and to help the body heal itself.5th Century BCThe Greek philosophers Democritus and Leucippus proposed that matter was made up of tiny, indivisible particles they called atom, or in Greek "a-tomos”, which included the human body.

Medical professionals of ancient Greece also learned that the electrical impulses emitted from electric eels in clinical foot baths relieved pain and produced a favorable influence on the blood circulation.46 ADDoctors Largus and Dioscorides documented substantial therapeutic results with electrical currents in circulatory disorders and in the management of pain from neuralgia, headache, and arthritis.1700 Many European physicians used controlled electrical currents from electrostatic generators almost exclusively for numerous medical problems involving pain, trauma and circulatory disorders. Also during that period, Benjamin Franklin documented pain relief by using electrical currents for conditions such as “frozen shoulder.”1840 England’s first electrical therapy department is established at Guy’s Hospital, under Dr. Golding Bird. Galvano's electrical discovery(electricity in animal tissue) leads to the use of mechanically pulsed Galvanic currents.1860 The start of Faradic Stimulation. Bristow develops the Bristow Coil, using Faraday’s principle of electro-magnetically controlling the voltage of electricity.

1860’sThe discovery of the Body Electric by Michael Faraday. Electricity is used all around the body. Special nerves made up of cells called neurons carry electrical signals to the brain from every part of the body and from the brain to all parts of the body. These nerves even carry electricity from one part of the brain to another.

Generally, this is the way that our brain helps us get information from our senses, processes information and helps us control our muscles and organs. Historians of science refer to Faraday as one of the best experimentalists in the History of Science.1897 Thompson discovered the first component part of the atom: the electron, a particle with a negative electric charge.1891 Nikola Tesla presents a paper in ‘Electrical Engineer’,about the medical application of high frequency currents. He notes that when the body is transversed by alternating currents above a certain frequency, heat is perceived.1905Einstein confirms Plank’s theory showing that the energy of light is determined by its frequency, where E=hf.1910 Approximately 50% of all U.S. physicians used electro-medicine in their practice daily.1920 - 1930Dr. Royal Raymond Rife produced some rather astounding accomplishments in medicine and biology using frequency.1920 - 1960 Extensive research of Bio-energetics and biofeedback by Rife, Tesla, Miller. Bioenergetic Biofeedback is studied as effects of electrical signals on healing wounds and defects.1944Schrödinger wrote “What is Life?” which contains a discussion of negentropy (things becoming more in order) and the concept of a complex molecule with the genetic code for living organisms. In his book he writes that DNA and thus biology is Quantic in nature not thermodynamic.

According to James D. Watson’s memoir, "DNA, The Secret of Life", Schrödinger’s book, gave Watson the inspiration to research the gene, which led to the discovery of the DNA double helix structure.1929Lakhovsky publishes his book “The Secret of Life”. Conducts studies and concludes that cells possess resistance, capacitance, and inductance and function like tuned resonant circuits, capable of resonating to a resonant frequency when exposed to a range of frequencies.1950’s Studies evaluating electrical reactivity began with Dr. Reinhold Voll’s investigations. Voll was able to measure changes in skin resistance at acupuncture points and demonstrate that the body electrically reacts to things it needs and in turn is able to react to things that are harmful.1955Dr. James Pershing Isaacs prints his work on the “Complementarity in Medicine”, and defines Biology as Quantic. Werner Heisenberg writes an introduction.1959 The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1959 was awarded to Jaroslav Heyrovsky “for his discovery and development of the polarographic Voltammetry methods of analysis”. This proves the fact there is an energetic signature of a Voltammetric field around all items.1985Becker publishes “The Body Electric”. His theories challenge the established mechanistic understanding of the body. With these research findings, he is able to reveal clues that lead to a better understanding of the healing process for the theory of electricity being vital to life.

Becker set out to examine why normal bones heal, and then explore the reasons why bones fail to heal properly. His experiments were mostly with salamanders and frogs, and his scope was widened to studying regeneration after lesions such as limb amputation. He suspected that electric fields played an important role for controlling the regeneration process, and therefore mapped the electric potentials at various body parts during the regeneration. This mapping showed that the central parts of the body were normally positive, and the limbs negative.

When a limb of a salamander or frog was amputated, the voltage at the cut changed from about -10 mV (millivolts) to +20 mV or more the next day - a phenomenon called the current of injury. In a frog, the voltage would simply change to the normal negative level in four weeks or so, and no limb regeneration would take place.

In a salamander, however, the voltage would during the first two weeks change from the +20 mV to -30 mV, and then normalize (to -10 mV) during the next two weeks - and the limb would be regenerated.1970’s Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) is acknowledged as a viable method of pain management by America’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Many American companies begin production of TENS devices.The heart pacemaker is developed.1988 The Voll electro-acupuncture energetic medicine device is registered with the FDA (the Voll device was a one dimensional measure of skin resistance).1989The US FDA registers Professor Nelson’s biofeedback Xrroid which is a trivector 3D device to send in and measure voltammetry.2010 - TodayToday, thousands of doctors and medical researchers worldwide are investigating electro medicine and biofeedback as effective alternatives to traditional methods of treatment.

These avenues are leading to new possibilities for treating conditions such as spinal cord injury, muscular restoration, nerveregeneration, brain stimulation, bladder disorders, heart disease, tumors, degenerative diseases, and other chronic catastrophic diseases and disorders.